


Working Out What Was Impossible

by WildflowerWoods



Series: Cryptid Black Bulls [3]
Category: Black Clover - Tabata Yuki (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Attempted Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29161233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WildflowerWoods/pseuds/WildflowerWoods
Summary: The Eye of the Midnight Sun had shown themselves, shown their strongest members, but the Magic Knight Captains knew the fight was far from over. they would be back, and the Magic Knights would just have to be ready for that.However, it is impossible to plan without the enemy finding out when there is a traitor in their midst. First things first, Julius had to root out the traitor amongst the Magic Knight Captains and pray that the fallout didn't hurt the rest of the Magic Knights too badly.
Relationships: Finral Roulacase & Yami Sukehiro
Series: Cryptid Black Bulls [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2126286
Comments: 16
Kudos: 90





	Working Out What Was Impossible

**Author's Note:**

> Was I supposed to be writing the third chapter for Coming Back? Yes. Did I write this instead anyway? Also yes. Do I regret it? Nope.

_Once you've ruled out the impossible, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truth. The problem lay in working out what was impossible, of course. - Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!_

* * *

"That's a letter from the royal capital!" Asta cried as he noticed the seal "Did something happen? Are we going?"

"Stop yappin' for a second, will ya?" Yami replied, sounding irritated. "Yes, it's from the capital." Great. A letter from the capital usually meant Yami would need to go to the capital which meant Finral had to portal to the capital. And because Yami wouldn't just let Finral wait at the base until his business in that capital was over, that meant Finral usually spent hours sitting in a room with the Vice-Captains, including Langris, knowing full well he wasn't supposed to be there. "Looks like the Wizard King's asking for you." Asta's presence was a new one though.

"The Wizard King?" Asta repeated.

"The Squad Captains are getting together for a meeting tomorrow, says to drag you along, too."

"Woah! What's he want me there for?"

"Like I know," Yami replied, and he was definitely getting irritated. "You're just gonna have to come to the capital and find out. Oh yeah, Finral, he wants you there too." Finral wasn't too sure why the Wizard King felt the need to add that as he was usually with Yami anyway, but it was obvious there was no way he could get out of it. Not after the Wizard King had asked for him.

* * *

"Thank you for waiting." Marx greeted the three Black Bulls at the entrance. "Welcome, Captain Yami Sukehiro of the Black Bulls, Vice-Captain Finral Roulacase-" Finral's eyes widened at the title. Damnit. How many times did he have to repeat himself?

"Oh, I'm not-" Finral tried to protest, but Marx ignored him. As always. He wasn't the Vice-Captain. Why did everyone think he was?

"-and Asta of Hage." Asta was staring at Marx, a slightly confused look on his face.

"Sorry." He said, "Um, who are you?" Of course. Asta had never been to the castle for a captains meeting before. He had no idea.

"That's Marx Francois." Finral stated, before Yami could introduce him as Mushroomhead. "he helps the wizard king."

"Like you help Captain Yami?" Asta asked Finral had to bite back his first retort. Technically, the majority of what he did wasn't in his job description. Not that there really was a job description for a magic knight, but still. He wasn't supposed to be doing the paperwork, or handing out missions or most of the stuff he did regularly because it was all supposed to be Yami's job. But no. Yami apparently had more important things to do. Like take a dump.

"Kinda" Finral answered instead.

"It's been real fun chattin' with ya Mushroomhead." Yami interrupted, as crass as always. "But we didn't come to stand around. Now, where's the meeting?"

"My name is Marx, sir." Marx stated, like he did every time Yami called him Mushroomhead "and the preparations are going to take a bit longer. If you and your Vice-Captain-"

"I'm not-" once again, Finral's protest about rank got ignored.

"-could please wait with the other captains." no mention of any Vice-Captains. That must mean Finral was the only one to be invited. Weird. "Now, Asta, if you could please come with me."

"They want his anti-magic for something, don't they?" Finral asked as Marx led Asta off somewhere. That was the only reason he could think of for asking for such a new knight to attend a captains meeting.

"Yep." Yami replied, leading the way to the meeting room. "Hopefully, this won't take too long."

* * *

Charlotte looked up as the door was thrown open, familiar mana on the other side. Yami. The Captain of the Black Bulls stomped into the room, a familiar hooded figure on his heels. Strange, none of the other vice-captains had been invited.

"Yami," Gueldre stated, eyes fixed on the hooded spatial mage. "Why is your vice-captain here?"

"Hell if I know," Yami replied, dropping into his chair, his vice-captain perching on a bench along the wall behind him. "Julius just said to bring him."

"You're surprised?" Charlotte asked. After seeing Yami being shadowed by his vice-captain for so long it would be stranger to see Yami alone than it was to see the spatial mage at a captains only meeting. "Finral Vaude, was it?"

"Uh, Roulacase actually." The spatial mage replied, ah yes, that's right. He'd been disowned. Charlotte had forgotten about that "And I'm not-"

"You were there for the fight against the Third Eye," Nozel noted. Ah, yes. That's right. Finral had opened a portal for Yami to go through towards the end of the battle.

"You had four captains _and_ a skilled spatial mage with you and you _still_ let them get away?" Gueldre laughed, still watching the spatial mage on the bench out of the corner of his eye. Strange. "How embarrassing." Jack started cackling.

"They were a bit tougher than those nobodies from the Spade and Diamond Kingdoms you and your squad went up against" He shot back. "We were in a _real_ battle." The Third Eye were by far the toughest opponents Charlotte had faced in a while. Gueldre just laughed some more.

"That's awfully big talk from a man whose squad has fewer starts than mine."

"Only because we don't stoop to doing sneaky stuff on the sly!"

"You need to calm down, Skinnybones Lineface." Yami interrupted, being the voice of reason for once. Though, why did Charlotte have to end up sat next to him? "Garbletron's actually got a point."

"It's Gueldre!" Gueldre shouted, still annoyed by Yami's habit of giving people nicknames despite having known the foreigner for years.

"Like I'm interested in the opinion of somebody who has no stars at all!" Jack yelled.

"Hm?" Yami finally looked up from the sword he was polishing. "We've got plenty of stars. Black ones."

"Actually-" Yami's spatial mage started but nobody heard him over Jack's yelling.

"You really want to brag about having negative stars?" The former commoner practically screeched.

"Will you two be silent." Nozel interrupted, voice sharp "Foreigners and Low-born fools should hold their tounges."

"What that?" Yami asked, clearly trying to wind Nozel up. Why did she have to fall for this arrogant man? "You wanna join our crew Sir Stuffy-pants?"

"Yami" the lone vice-captain hissed "That's really not-"

"This is absurd." Charlotte interrupted, none of the other captains were going to listen to someone of a lower rank than them. Why did there have to be so many men amongst the captains? They'd never accomplish anything with them all blathering on.

"We still need an interim captain for the Crimson Lion Kings" Rill noted, speaking for the first time. "If Fuegoleon were here he'd have had everything sorted five minutes after he walked in the door" The rest of the captains all started glaring at Rill and Charlotte was once again reminded that the captain of the Aqua Deer was little more than a child. Why Julius had thought that was a good idea was beyond her. Absently, she noticed Yami's spatial mage trying and failing to subtly open a portal so he could leave.

"Oh no, you don't," Yami stated, not even looking as he grabbed his vice-captain. "Julius wanted you to be here so you're not going anywhere. Sit back down." The spatial mage looked like he was going to reply when the doors opened once more.

"I've kept you all waiting" William stated as he entered the room. "I apologise for my tardiness."

"What were you doing, Vangeance?" Charlotte asked, suddenly remembering that Willaim had been absent for the distinguished service ceremony when the capital was attacked.

"Oh, something needed my attention," William replied, taking his seat.

"Heh. You're busy. And who'd expect it to be otherwise?" Gueldre laughed, finally taking his eyes of Yami's spatial mage. He was after something. "The charismatic captain with the _most_ stars to his name this term must have a lot to do." he praised. definitely after something. "So, tell me, what _is_ your secret? How did the Golden Dawn come to be the mightiest of all the Magic Knight Squads, and in record time at that?" There it was. Gueldre was nearly always after something when he started a conversation. "I hear every member of your squad is developing greater talents than would have been expected of them." Charlotte had to admit that she was curious about how William had managed that. Despite her best efforts, her girls weren't advancing anywhere near as quickly, though they had a steady, strong pace. "Do _you_ perhaps have some sort of magic that allows you to see into someone's future?" William smiled, a false smile that clearly didn't reach his eyes, despite the mask covering his face.

"Regrettably, I can claim no such power. The members of the Golden Dawn are simply diligent workers." Then explain how they were advancing so fast compared to the rest of the magic knights despite the effort everyone else put in. "As a matter of fact, I've wanted to ask you, the mighty tycoon, the secret to amassing a fortune."

"That's a trade secret, I'm afraid" Gueldre chuckled, glancing over at Yami's spatial mage again. Why did he keep doing that? What was so special about the Vice-Captain of the Black Bulls?

"There's something I've noticed for a while now," Yami stated, drawing Gueldre's attention off his subordinate. "You've got one hell of a creepy laugh."

"And you thought today's meeting would be a good time to tell me?" Gueldre snapped.

"Also, it's scary how much you look like a boneless ham," Yami replied, finally putting his sword away. He'd noticed Gueldre's interest in his spatial mage then. Charlotte couldn't say the slight hostility was a surprise. The Vice-Captain was the only Black Bull aside from Yami any of them saw regularly and Charlotte suspected most of that had to do with the fact that the spatial mage was Yami's main form of transport.

"Tell me, Vangeance," Nozel stated. "What were you doing on the day of the distinguished service ceremony?" He asked, clearly remembering the same thing Charlotte had. That William had been absent. "When a captain has knights that are taking part in the ceremony, that captain should also be in attendance. Perhaps there was something that needed your attention that day too. Well?" the royal demanded.

"I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation" Yami's spatial mage started.

"Be quiet." Nozel snapped. Finral flinched back like he'd been hit. Charlotte frowned. That was an unusual reaction. "You're not a captain. You're not even an official Vice-Captain. And, as a disowned noble, you're worth less than both the Low-born fool and the Foreigner."

"I-"

"Hey, are you messin' with my ride?" Yami interrupted, mana flaring slightly as his hand moved to his sword.

"He's not worth my time," Nozel stated haughtily, turning away.

"Then stop picking on him," Yami replied, placing his hand back on the table as his mana retreated. Charlotte doubted that anyone else really noticed, she only had because she was sat right next to him. Maybe Rill had. "You can stop giving Goldie here such a hard time too."

"Thank you, Yami, but that was unnecessary," Willaim said. Of course. William and Yami had history beyond the fact that they'd both been made Magic Knight Captains of two new squads at the same time. She'd heard that Julius was responsible for both of them joining the Magic Knights to being with.

"Whatever." Yami dismissed "You don't happen to use light magic, do ya?"

"No." William replied serenely "I don't."

"Thank you for waiting, everyone" Marx's magic flickered to life at the end of the table before anyone could say anything else. "The preparations are now complete." He announced. "However, the captain's meeting will be taking place elsewhere."

* * *

"So," Yami said, noticing the kid as they entered the underground prison. "This is where they stashed ya. You doin' okay?"

"Yes, sir." The kid replied, "I'm doing fine. Thank you so much for asking." he sounded nervous, his ki felt it too. What did he know that the rest of them didn't?"

"Excuse me, sir, what is this about?" Goldiguts asked.

"Those two" the prickly princess noted. "They're from the Eye of the Midnight Sun. Have you learned something from them?" they probably had. Julius wouldn't have bothered calling a meeting if he hadn't.

"Oh yes." Julius confirmed. "all kinds of things." Oh, that look in his eye promised trouble. Great. "Thanks to Marx and Asta they've become quite talkative, but the juiciest tidbit is probably this." Julius paused, looking each and every one of them in the eye, one by one. It felt like he was trying to see into Yami's soul. "It seems one of you has been working with the Eye of the Midnight Sun." So. That's what the kid was so worked up about. A traitor. Yami glanced at the other captains out of the corner of his eye. Well, he had a good idea who it was.

* * *

"Alright," Julius stated, turning to the captives. "Now, will you tell us?" He asked, "Who among us is the traitorous captain who collaborated with the Eye of the Midnight Sun?" A traitor. Well, that explained why the Midnight Sun had been able to attack the capital. It also explained why Yami's spatial mage was there, Yami rarely went anywhere without his vice-captain following, though she doubted it was him. Asking Yami to bring the spatial mage along was probably a just-in-case measure. it would also make it harder for the actual traitor to escape.

Charlotte paused, taking a good look at her fellow captains as she tried to figure it out.

She wasn't the traitor. That was a given. She'd know if she'd betrayed the kingdom.

Obviously, it couldn't be Fuegoleon. He'd been the victim of the whole mess and had his necklace stolen. If he was working with the Eye of the Midnight Sun he'd have just given it to them without an attack being necessary.

It wasn't Yami. If she, Nozel and Jack hadn't turned up when they did, Yami and at least three of his squad would be dead, maybe more depending on how close to the cave they were.

It wasn't Nozel either. Not with the way Fuegoleon got injured. Nozel promised bloody murder to whoever hurt his rival.

She doubted it was Jack. A lunatic he may be, but he wasn't the sort of person to betray someone. He'd be far more likely to just slash whoever tried to make him a traitor into pieces.

Dorothy- no. Charlotte could see the witch and fellow female captain doing anything to cause harm to the place that gave her shelter and safety when she left the Witches Forest.

Rill was also out. The boy was too innocent, too new. From an outsider's perspective, he'd be the first people would suspect which made him the least likely candidate.

Which left William, who was strangely absent on the day of the attack, and Gueldre, who'd spent the entire meeting so far watching Yami's spatial mage more than any of the other captains.

"Go on." Julius encouraged, "Tell us their name."

"The traitor," the two captives said together in matching monotone voices, "is the Purple Orcas Captain."

"Gueldre Poizot," Julius stated, turning back to the gathered captains. Charlotte wasn't alone in backing away from the traitor. Nobody wanted to be near him.

"Uh—Ridiculous" Gueldre instantly started to deny "What are you trying to say?" He demanded, sounding panicked. "Those two are terrorists guilty of attacking the royal capital itself! You would have to be crazy to believe a word out of their mouths!" Charlotte's eyes narrowed, recalling rumour after rumour. that sounded like someone trying to save his own skin. "I've never given anyone cause to doubt my loyalty to thi _s_ kingdom!"

"Well." Charlotte interrupted. "That isn't exactly true." She stated carefully. "I have heard a few distasteful rumours regarding you."

"Is that all Charlotte?" Nozel asked, " _I've_ heard a great deal more than a few."

"No way!" Rill cried, and oh, he was so innocent. Too innocent to be stood in a room with all of them. "Are you guys serious?"

"Sure are." Yami replied, lighting another cigarette. "There's rumours all over the damn place. It's crazy." His spatial mage nodded. Gueldre jerked back at Yami's confirmation. For the Black Bulls to have heard a rumour it had to be big.

"And now it seems they weren't baseless after all," Charlotte stated coldly. So many of the rumours involved him hurting his one squad, the people he was meant to guide and protect. To think such a man could be hidden amongst them.

"I always knew you were up to something sneaky," Jack said, his cackle absent for once. "but I never imagined even you would stoop to this level."

"This isn't funny!" Gueldre protested "There's obviously been a mistake! Yes!" There was a hastily muffled laugh from the spatial mage.

"You got something to say, Finral?" The Black Bulls captain asked.

"He sounds like a kid who got caught stealing cookies" Yami's vice-captain explained. Yami smirked.

"He does, doesn't he?" Charlotte couldn't deny that she could see the comparison.

"Those two are trying to set me up and you're all falling for it!" Gueldre cried desperately, waving a hand at the captured Midnight Sun members.

"Impossible" Marx replied instantly. "They've answered honestly with all the information at their disposal." Gueldre whimpered slightly. "Anything said under the spell's compulsion is true, without a doubt."

"There you have it, Hammy" Yami drawled, a hand moving down to his sheathed sword.

"Who are you calling 'Hammy' Gueldre demanded.

"Hey now, calm down. Why don't you get Mushroom head to use his fancy spell on you?" Yami asked. Charlotte noted that his spatial mage was hidden behind him, grimoire already in hand should the traitor decide to bolt. "He can sneak a little peek inside that head of yours. If you've been a good ham, you'll have nothing to worry about." Yami had an excellent point, but Gueldre was already backing away.

"Apart from the stupid nickname, I agree completely." Marx stated, "If you're truly innocent, you should jump at the chance to prove it."

"Well," Gueldre said, "I- don't know" sweat was starting to bead down his face, he was nervous, uncomfortable, ready to bolt at any moment.

"Hey," Yami called "What's the matter there Hammy?" He waved hi had as he spoke, his spatial mage quietly moving back towards the door, grimoire already open on a spell. "You get shy all of a sudden?"

"Most disgraceful, Gueldre," Charlotte said, her eyes narrowed. He had fought alongside them in the war, she thought she could trust him. How long had he been a traitor?

"Such a betrayal is unforgivable," Nozel stated, clearly disgusted. "It should be a capital offence."

"So, you really are a traitor then" Yami's other Black Bull, the Anti-magic boy asked, he sounded horrified, like the situation in front of him was something beyond his worst nightmares. "You jerk!" He yelled, "You betrayed your fellow captain!" It seemed Fuegoleon had influenced the boy even though he was one of Yami's mysterious Bulls. Interesting. Charlotte had to wonder just what Fuegoleon did to have the boy react like that.

"No!" Gueldre protested "This is some kind of trap!" He pulled his grimoire out, casting a spell before any of them could stop him. "Transparency Creation Magic: Activating the Invisible Mage!" Gueldre vanished from both view and mana-sens, a grin on his face.

"He's gone!" Yami's little anti-magic Bull cried.

"Hah." Yami laughed, pulling his sword "He's making a run for it. Things are getting serious now."

"Not good." Charlotte muttered, searching the room "He's invisible. And as long as he is, our attack spells will pass right through him."

"So basically we're screwed," Yami replied. "None of our attack spells will work on the bastard while he's like this." There was a sudden increase in the number of bodies in the room. "Finral!"

* * *

Yami scowled as several more invisible people were summoned into the room. "Finral!" He yelled before the Purple Orcas captain had a chance to use the chaos to escape. His spatial mage didn't need anything other than that to know what Yami wanted him to do. With a wave of Finral's hands, a giant portal opened up over the door, its twin on the other side of the room, behind the captured Midnight Sun agents. There was no way the traitor ham was escaping that way.

The rest of the captains turned back to fighting the invisible assailants, clearly trusting that Finral's portal would be enough to keep everyone contained in the room until the traitor had been found and captured. Unfortunately, thanks to the sheer number of people in the room, Yami couldn't pick out the ham's ki amongst all the other invisible things.

It was only because Yami paused to check that Finral could handle holding a portal that size for any great length of time that he saw what happened.

First, Finral's hood crumpled, an invisible hand grabbing it and the young man's hair roughly, holding Finral in place.

Next, his wrists were forced together by a second, unseen hand, preventing him from casting any more spells.

There was no time to react.

Yami could only stand there and watch as Finral's head was slammed into the wall. Hard.

The portals flickered and died, collapsing in on themselves as Finral crumpled, the hand tightly holding his wrists together the only thing keeping him upright.

"Finral!" The traitor laughed, the invisibility spell quickly spreading to cover Finral too, his mana becoming untraceable.

His ki, however, was still perfectly readable.

Yami gave chase as the traitor slipped out the room, Finral still in his clutches, leaving the others to deal with the invisible attackers. There was no way he was letting Finral get taken. Not now. Not after all the effort he'd put into keeping the younger mage safe.

The burst out into the sunlight and Gueldre Poizot reappeared, laughing, Finral's trapped wrists held high above his head so the spatial mage's feet were nowhere near the floor as he hung limp like a rag doll. Finral's hood had fallen down and blood was starting to soak into his sandy hair.

Yami saw red.

The traitor had hurt one of his squad, had hurt _Finral_ , who would never willingly hurt another living creature and probably wouldn't even in his life depended on it. Had hurt one of the reasons Yami insisted on keeping his squad so mysterious. he wasn't stupid, he'd seen the way Finral had flinched when he yelled after first joining the squad, had listened to how he constantly put himself down and resolutely came to the conclusion that House Vaude had not been kind to him.

"Put. Him. Down." Yami snarled, his dark magic coming to life around him. The traitor had the nerve to laugh, shaking Finral's limp form.

"Oh, this? No. I don't think I will. There's a _lot_ I could do with a spatial mage as powerful as this one is." His words pulled at a half-forgotten memory, Finral's Magic Knight exam, the only one he'd actually shown himself at until Asta. It had been years ago, but Yami hadn't been the only one to want Finral on his squad. "You really should keep a better eye on your things." The Purple Orcas had offered him a place too. "Most people wouldn't even notice that he'd gone." The ham mocked. "Who in their right mind would come looking for the failed son of House Vaude?" Yami would. His squad would. He'd created the damn thing for misfits, made it mysterious for people like Finral and Vanessa, people hurt by those that were supposed to protect them.

The traitor was only taking Finral over Yami's dead body.

"You're stealing one of _my_ Bulls?" He asked, pulling his sword. "Wow. You really are stupid."

* * *

When Asta saw the sunlight, he was expecting a fight. He expected a furious Captain Yami trying to hit the invisible captain. He expected to see Finral being used as a human shield.

What he was not expecting was a very beat up and bloody former captain unconscious on the ground while Captain Yami checked Finral's injuries.

"Captain Yami?" Asta called, coming to a stop. There was blood in Finral's hair, blood on Captain Yami's hands.

"About time kid." Captain Yami said, not looking away from Finral. "I need you to watch the traitor while I take Finral to the infirmary."

"Is he going to be okay?" Asta asked. Finral didn't _get_ hurt. It was one of the few constants about the Black Bulls. Gauche loved his sister, Luck and Magna fought over stupid stuff, Vanessa drank, Finral didn't get hurt. The fact that Finral _was_ hurt- no wonder the former Purple Orcas captain was so beat up.

"He'll be fine." Captain Yami stated, carefully standing with Finral in his arms. "Tell Julius I'll be back soon." and, without waiting for an answer, the captain of the Black Bulls vanished.

* * *

"All right," Julius stated, looking down at the beaten former captain. He'd thought Gueldre was smart, smart enough to not mess with Yami at least, but then again, he'd also thought he could trust the man, so clearly he'd misjudged. "So far all you've done is make excuses." Anyone who knew Yami could tell that messing with his squad was just asking to get hurt and trying to steal Finral Roulacase? That was beyond stupid. Julius remembered Yami listing his reasons for making his squad mysterious, and Finral Roulacase had been right at the top. "Let's hear the truth."

* * *

"Now, Gueldre," Julius stated, staring down at the traitor captain. "Have the answers you've given us up to this point all been true?"

"They have," Gueldre replied, in the same monotonous voice the two Midnight Sun captives had. Charlotte was sure Yami wished he'd beaten the traitor up more than he already did. Julius had had to trap the Black Bulls captain in a time bubble about halfway through the interrogation to stop Yami from destroying the building in his anger.  
With a wave of Julius' hand, Yami dropped back to the floor, landing on his feet, still scowling and furious.

"Still think I was too hard on him, Rill?" he demanded, clearly too angry to come up with a stupid nickname. Charlotte couldn't deny that she'd be just as mad in Yami's place. Gueldre had beaten up his own squad to get them to obey, misappropriated magical tools and smuggled dangerous magic drugs. It was obvious how a spatial mage as powerful as Yami's would be useful for that last one, and there was very little doubt in Charlotte's mind that if Gueldre had actually got away with the Black Bulls Vice-Captain he would have started smuggling more than just drugs. "He was filthy before the whole traitor thing and then he had the nerve to try and steal one of my Bulls from right in front of me."

"I'm honestly surprised you haven't killed him already, Yami," Jack admitted, still lacking his usual cackle. None of them were up to acting like they normally would, it seemed. Even Rill was quiet. Then again, a vice-captain had almost been kidnapped by one of their own and would likely have been forced to use his magic to bring more pain to the citizens of Clover.

"You can't question a dead man, unfortunately." Yami said "Otherwise I would have," Charlotte could read between the lines. if Gueldre had actually taken Yami's spatial mage, Yami would have dropped a dead body at Julius' feet. She couldn't blame him, if it had been Sol in Finral's place, or any of her girls really, Charlotte would have done the exact same thing.

"No wonder he didn't want us reading his mind with Marx's spell," Charlotte stated aloud, reminding Yami of his spatial mage's injuries would most likely not be helpful. "You didn't mention his worse crime, abducting a guardian mage. That's direct cooperation with the Eye of the Midnight Sun." She sighed, she'd fought beside this man, gone to war with him, and he'd turned his back on them all out of greed. "At least now we know how they were able to invade the royal capital."

"The fool was so blinded by the offer of rare magic tools that he made a deal with terrorists." Nozel scoffed, clearly still furious over Fuegoleon's injuries. That took the count of captains who definitely wanted to see Gueldre dead up to two.

"The Eye of the Midnight Sun likely killed the abducted guardian mage shortly after the attack on the capital," Marx added, neatly stepping around a puddle of blood as he moved to stand next to Julius, putting his grimoire away as he did so.

"Julius," Willaim said from his spot in the corner "Don't forget to add attempted abduction of a Vice-Captain to the list of crimes."

"I still don't get why he tried to take your Vice-Capitan," Rill muttered, and Charlotte couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He was still so young, too young to be faced with such horrors. But the boy had chosen his path, it wasn't her place to dissuade him. "There's several other spatial mages around."

"You'd be hard-pressed to find one as good as Finral." Yami replied, finally starting to calming down "He can take you from one end of Clover to the other with a single portal. Could probably go to the other kingdoms from here as long as he had a marker there." That was impressive, Charlotte couldn't deny that. Yami's spatial mage was fast and discrete too, nothing like Cob's giant doors.

"He could do a lot with that sort of power." Jack aimed a kick at the now unconscious traitor as he spoke. "Might even be tempted to move from smuggling drugs to smuggling people if he didn't have to worry about borders."

"Gueldre Poizot's actions are both unprecedented and unforgivable" Julius announced. "He was a Magic Knight, charged with protecting our people, yet he sold them out instead, going so far as to try and take one of our own from right in front of us. If word of this got out, the populace might panic. So, we won't be making this matter public." he paused, looking at them all the same way he had before revealing the traitor, looking at them like he was trying to read their thoughts. "I want you to take a good look at your squads. Make sure none of them have ties to the enemy. This cannot be allowed to happen again." Charlotte thought about the sound of Finral Roulacase's head slamming into the wall, the feel of Yami's mana when he realised his Vice-Captain was being taken, the constricting darkness threatening to spill over and suffocate them all. She didn't want to know what would happen if it did.

No. Gueldre Poizot and his betrayal couldn't be allowed to happen again, a Vice-Captain almost being taken with several Magic Knight Captains in the room couldn't happen again, especially not if it was a Black Bull. Yami might just kill them all, whether he meant to or not.

* * *

"How is he?" Finral looked up at the sound of Yami's voice.

"He's fine." Owen replied "It was nothing a recovery spell couldn't fix. You can take him home now, but I wouldn't recommend pushing your limits for a few days, Finral." Owen stated, turning to face him for the last part. "If your head had hit that wall any harder, the injury would have been far more severe. Don't go making any long-distance portals for at least a week."

"I can at least portal to the base, right?" Finral asked, he really didn't want to have to fly home. Owen paused for a moment.

"Portalling back to the base should be okay. But your squad can't use you as an errand boy for the next few days."

"Great," Yami stated. "Let's go home. Julius gave us a mission."

"A mission?" Finral asked as they left the infirmary. "Where?"

"You ever been to Raque?"


End file.
